LES biz in 2nd scandal
Harlem sale fight
A Harlem nursing home is suing the state attorney general for trying to block the sale of its building to the scandal-scarred developer at the heart of an explosive probe involving City Hall.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had at first approved the $32 million sale of the Greater Harlem Nursing Home on West 138th Street to the Allure Group in May. But Schneiderman reversed course in June after discovering the developer had allegedly tried to hide its identity in the transaction.
Allure is under probe for buying the nonprofit Rivington House nursing home on the Lower East Side in 2015 and flipping it for a $72 million profit, selling it to a condo developer.
The Mayor’s Office signed off on the Rivington deal by lifting a deed restriction on the property, allowing the sale, but Mayor de Blasio claims he knew nothing about the move. The city Department of Investigation, comptroller and Schneiderman are conducting probes into the matter.
The AG is now demanding that the Harlem nursing home hand over thousands of pages of e-mails and other documents related to its own pending sale, suspicious that Allure may again be pulling an alleged dirty trick.
But a lawyer for the Harlem facility argues that the AG hasn’t given it “any indication whatsoever that any violation or any statute actionable or prosecutable has occurred” and, therefore, shouldn’t be allowed to block the sale.
A lawyer for Allure has said the company plans to turn the Harlem facility into a “five-star, financially viable nursing home.”
But the Harlem home’s own court papers raise questions about whether Allure would actually continue housing the elderly or turn it into luxury housing.
While the nursing home’s assets, including its real estate, were assessed at $21.8 million in 2014, Allure had offered to buy the company at a huge $10.2 million markup.